The Cradle of the Christ: A Study in Primitive Christianity — John Shaqi
The Cradle of the Christ: A Study in Primitive ChristianityFrothingham, Octavius Brooks
Religion
The Cradle of the Christ: A Study in Primitive Christianity
Frothingham, Octavius Brooks
Christianity -- Controversial literature
The best of the three kings was Philip, who received as his portion the
North Eastern division, the most remote from the centre of disturbance.
He was a quiet, well-disposed man, who staid at home, attended to his
own business, developed the resources of his dominion, and showed
himself a father to his people. Cæsarea Philippi was built by him;
Bethsaida was rebuilt. Antipas, called also Herod, was appointed ruler
over Galilee and Peræa; a cunning, unprincipled man, nicknamed "the
fox;" despotic and wilful, like his father, and like his father, fond of
display. He built Dio Cæsarea, as it was afterwards called, and
Tiberias, on the sea of Galilee. He too was a good deal of a pagan, and
deeply outraged the Hebrew conscience by repudiating his wife, the
daughter of Aretas, an Arabian king, and marrying the wife of his
half-brother, Philip. He was an oriental despot, superstitious,
luxurious, sensual, wilful and weak; quite destitute of the
statesmanship required in the ruler of a turbulent province, where
special care and skill were necessary to reconcile the order of civil
government with the aspiration after theocratic supremacy. The spiritual
fear, which compelled him to stand in awe of religious enthusiasm, put
him on more than half earnest quest of prophetic messengers, made him
curious about miracles and signs, and anxious not to offend needlessly
the higher powers, was incessantly at war with the self-regarding policy
which resented the smallest encroachment on his own authority. To
maintain his ducal state, and meet the cost of his public and private
extravagance, he imposed heavy taxes, and collected them in an
unscrupulous fashion, which made him and the empire he represented
extremely unpopular. Jealous of his prerogative, and ambitious of regal
rank, he brought himself into disagreeable collision with the
aspirations of the people he governed. His immediate neighborhood to the
centres of Jewish enthusiasm,--he lived in the very heart of it, for
Galilee was the seat and head-quarters of Hebrew radicalism--made his
every movement felt. In him the spirit of the Roman empire was, in the
belief of the people, incarnate.
The oldest brother, Archelaus, held the chief position, bore the highest
title, received the largest tribute, more than a million of dollars, and
resided in Judæa, nearer the political centre of the country. His reign
was short. His cruelty and lawlessness, his disregard of private and
public decencies raised his subjects against him. Augustus, on an appeal
to Rome for redress, summoned him to his presence, listened to the
charges and the defence, and banished him to Gaul. This was in the year
6 of our era, only three years after the death of Herod. The reign of
his brothers, Philip and Antipas, covered the period of the life of
Jesus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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